Thursday, May 9, 2024

Perfect May day for a walk

Yesterday, sunshine finally after heavy rain, and I enjoyed May flowers, some of which I can name, some you might help with if you can.

My favorite color of azalea


Scarlet pimpernel patch 


 
Couple of bullfrogs shouting here around the pond yesterday 

 
Panicles looking lovely, smelling not so much 



Wild aster, some people call it 
fleabane


Honeysuckle, the scent travels far enough you can catch it long before you see it.

Misfits later today and a cooking plan, involving red lentils and curry.

Happy day everyone, stop and smell the fleabane!



35 comments:

  1. Honeysuckle is one we want to grow when we move. Such a great scent.

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  2. I don't know why, but as kids we used to lick the stamens of honeysuckle. I don't recall that they tasted of anything.

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    1. It smells like honey but I seem to remember it's a bit sweet. Can't test that here because of spraying.

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  3. "Fleabane" is such an unfortunate name for a beautiful flower but I assume its scent repels fleas?

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    1. I think botanists secretly hate plants. Otherwise why lousewort, bugwort, lungwort, henbit? Beautiful flowers which deserve better names than just comparisons to what they look like or references to their abilities. Similarly lepidopterists who give butterflies military names, or grammatical ones. Don't get me started. Oh, I think I did.

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  4. Smelling the flowers on stepping out of the door is wonderful.

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    1. I feel so blessed that we came to live here, with the benefits of wild and tame plants, the retention pond which has been adopted by wild creatures, and a lot of nature just outside the back door. I love to just go and walk without having to drive first.

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  5. We are the lucky ones who can step out of our doors and right into nature.

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    1. Luck played a small part in our history of endless saving to afford down payments. First house 12 years of saving. Proceeds if the eventual sale went to finance our son's college education. Started saving again to eventually scrape down payment on this townhouse. When things changed, once again I cleaned out my total savings to buy the condo. Then started saving again for retirement. All came out fine, but the harder we worked the luckier we got. No complaints here.

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    2. People always tell my husband how lucky he is and yes, he does seem to have pretty good luck but nothing has come just out of the blue lucky sky for him. He has worked so very hard all his life so that we can have what we do now.

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    3. Chance favors the prepared mind!

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  6. Spring flowers bloom smiles and laughter!

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  7. Nothing is blooming yet here, but the lilacs are budding so it won't be long. You do live in a lovely place.

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    1. I love lilac. Our local one was a casualty of the accursed fence project.

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  8. So many pretty flowers. Do you use flea bane to keep fleas out?
    It would be great to have a plant and put cuttings in and around the dogs bedding

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    1. I think it's supposed to be a flea repellent. As long as the dogs don't eat it, maybe strewing it about would work.

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  9. I didn't know what panicles were called. And fleabane - let's hope it lives up to its name! Like Andrew above a friend and I used to pull the stamens out of honeysuckle flowers and suck the nectar off. Fun memory.

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    1. Panicle is the blossom structure. I'm hoping someone supplies the tree name!

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    2. Hydrangea tree! We have many in our neighborhood, I love them!

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    3. Thank you! I knew someone would help.

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  10. Lovely flowers along your path. We have rain, basically for the week.

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    1. Maybe it will result in great flowers. We can hope

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  11. The blooms make spring a reality. We are beginning to get leaf buds, no blooms yet.

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    1. Buds are exciting to watch. They're early signs that spring will in fact happen, despite our fears.

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  12. Replies
    1. Such a perfect walk before the current rain flattened everything..

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  13. You are much better at naming that I am.

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    Replies
    1. Largely because blogistas in previous years have supplied help!

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  14. Just catching up. Glad you had a lovely walk before the rains descended. How nice to have this natural bounty just outside your door.

    I'd suggest the panicled flowers are those of a chokecherry. The photo below it looks like one of the dogwoods.

    Chris from Boise

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    1. Thank you. I was hoping you'd comment on the trees. It's lovely to be able to just go out the back gate and see trees like this.

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  15. I can't say that I've ever smelled fleabane so will have to rectify that if I come across any. When we were at the nursery earlier in the week we stopped by their pond to be treated to a chorus of frogs. We don't get them on our river because the water is too fast-moving for them (at least I think that's the reason).

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    1. I don't detect any scent on it. I think frogs like stable water, not a fast current. They're usually pond creatures except where there are quiet bends in rivers.

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